Family Lives On
by fashionnightmare
Summary: What really happened to cause the first Vampires to come into existence? Niklaus leads his family astray and as a result they are cursed in the worst way possible; thus, vampires were born.
1. Only The Beginning

Joseph- Father

Maria- Mother

Claire "Averna"/ "Ava"- 1st sibling (21 years old)

Elijah- 2nd sibling (20 years old)

Hansel - 3rd sibling (19 years old)

Murdoch - 4th sibling (18 years old)

Marcus and Ambrose- 5th and 6th sibling (17 years old)

Niklaus "Klaus"- 7th sibling (16 years old)

**I hope you enjoy this and there are more chapters on the way**

**xx Fashionnightmare xx**

**A.K.A Alicia**

**xxxx**

**1. Only The Beginning**

Dinner had begun, yet only eight people were sitting at the dinner table. A single seat was left empty in the middle of the elegant table. Eight heads were bent as the blessings were said.

Two people raised their heads simultaneously and across the table their eyes connected and one pair of brown eyes widened in worry, the other simply shook her head and bent over the table again, and her brother followed suit after one last look of hope towards the door at the end of the room.

"Amen." Eight voices chorused.

Everyone raised their heads and the man at the head of the table glared at the empty seat.

"Where is your brother?" He asked. His temper only slightly kept at bay, his voice sounded obviously strained.

Since this was an open question, the siblings looked between each other, but it was clear that no one knew the answer to their father's question.

"None here know Joseph. But let us not dwell on his absence." Their mother spoke tiredly from where she sat at the opposite end of the table to her husband. "You may eat children." Her blond hair was held away from her face by a ruby encrusted clip, her soft brown eyes surveyed the table as the six siblings began to chat amiably but on each child's face was the unmistakable look of apprehension.

This was not an uncommon occurrence in the Dita household. It was happening increasingly often and each time, Joseph Dita would ask the same question and each time the answer was the same. Each night the same thing would happen and there was nothing anyone could do to stop it. Whatever happened, Niklaus always missed dinner but each time, no matter what punishment was served to him, he never seemed to listen.

Tonight was no exception.

Dinner had finished, and as was normal, Joseph and Maria left first and their children would sit and talk before retiring to their bedrooms.

"Why does he do this?" Marcus muttered angrily, pushing himself up from his seat with such force that his chair was pushed over and fell to the stone floor with a resounding crash. "Father may actually kill him on this occasion!"

Calmly rising from her seat and walking around the table to pick up the fallen chair, Claire spoke, "Let us not dwell on the subject, it shan't do us any good and you know as much Marcus." Ambrose laid a hand on his twin's shoulder.

"It may not do us any good to talk about it, but we cannot deny that something has to be done." Hansel, the fourth of the seven children interjected calmly, but anger was dancing in his brown eyes and his hands were gripping the arms of his seat so hard that his knuckles were white.

"That is true." Elijah, the second eldest of the seven siblings, had moved from his seat across from Claire's and was now standing, looking out of the window at the full moon with his brow furrowed in deep concentration.

"So what do we do? He has to know that this erratic behaviour cannot and must not continue." Murdoch spoke from his place leaning over the roaring fireplace the flames casting shadows over his angular face. He looked up; worry clear in his dark eyes.

As everyone paused to consider what had been said, footsteps echoed outside the closed door of the dining room and all thoughts stopped. Every head turned towards the oak doors as they were thrown open to reveal Niklaus – and he was covered in blood.

Everyone froze in place. All anyone could think was blood. Why was he covered in blood?

"Niklaus!" Claire finally exclaimed in horror as she rushed forward, her brothers following close behind.

"It is fine dear sister, I have not been harmed." He spoke to her calmly as she stopped before him; resting a hand on her shoulder and squeezing before moving to the end of the table sit down in their father's chair.

Looking at Niklaus in comparison to his siblings, you would not see much resemblance. Niklaus had a short and stocky build whereas his siblings were all tall and had slight frames. The mystery however, was not his build but it was his eyes, they were a clear crystal blue in comparison to his sibling's brown eyes. The mystery stemmed from the fact that all of his siblings had brown eyes which they could have inherited from either of their parents as they both had the same coloured eyes; their parents claimed that Niklaus had inherited his blue eyes from their grandfather and that was enough for the siblings to comprehend, yet, still something inside the children could never believe their explanation.

Since – all the same, the shape of his eyes was similar to their mothers' and his mane of blond hair was shared by many of his siblings having inherited it from their mother, the others had brown hair much like their father – as he sat in the chair that their father had not long ago frequented, you could not help but notice how different they were, not only in looks but also in personality, their father had a temper that could barely be withheld and Niklaus never raised his voice unless he needed to. He never got angry, he simply purged his ill feelings by exacting revenge and he relished the power he could exert over people.

But he could sometimes take his revenge too far, which was why, as he sat there in the dining room, covered in blood – yet he claimed to be unharmed – his siblings could not help but feel uneasy.

No one had moved to follow him as he sat down; they remained by the door, allowing Claire to lead them, respecting the fact that she was the eldest.

"Klaus, why are you covered in blood?" She asked warily, using his shortened name subconsciously, wringing her hands together behind her back as she took one step towards her youngest brother. Her brothers took the step with her. She stopped abruptly and turned her head towards Elijah who was standing on her right-hand side. He looked down at her as she looked up at him his eyes were filled with the same worry he had shown at the dinner table during the blessing. They spoke with their eyes and Elijah held up a hand to signal their siblings to remain where they were as Claire turned her attention back to her brother who was eyeing the group curiously. Keeping his mouth uncharacteristically shut.

"Klaus?" Claire moved forward and kneeled on the floor beside her father's chair as she often had when she was little when she used to beg her father to read her one of his stories.

Now as she knelt here she felt like was a little girl again, not a twenty-one year old woman and she felt strangely aware of how small she now was in comparison to her sixteen year old brother who was looking down at her with a blank expression that made hairs rise on the back of her neck. She didn't fear her brother per se, but he made her feel very unsure, she never knew where she stood with him, she knew what he was capable of and she did not want to be a victim of one of his vendettas.

He was still her brother and right now she was worried about him; and he had still not answered her.

"Niklaus, if you remain unharmed then why are you covered in blood?" Claire asked, making sure to keep eye contact with him.

Eventually, his mouth quirked up at the corner in a wistful smile and he reached forward to brush his fingers gently across Claire's jaw before brushing a loose strand of long blond hair from her forehead.

"Because, my family," He spoke to everyone now present in the room, "I have found a new activity which satisfies all of my many needs."

"Klaus, what are you talking about?" Elijah spoke this time and Claire could tell that he was as terrified as she was about what they were about to hear, due to the fact that his eyes were wide and he was standing eerily still.

But Klaus did not answer the question directly.

"What do you think should happen to bad people?" His voice was dreamy and he stared vacantly into the depths of the fading fire.

"I don't know Klaus. What do you think?" Claire heard herself ask as if she were talking to a child.

"I think that they should be punished." He said calmly as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

"How should they be punished Klaus?" Ambrose stepped forward and asked with a curious yet wary look in Niklaus' direction.

Niklaus turned his eyes towards his elder brother and grinned. Claire felt herself shiver but she stayed obediently by Niklaus' side.

"If they are bad then they don't deserve to share our world with us. They should die."

No one spoke and in the distance only the baying of a wolf could be heard.

**So there you go!**

**Updates will be arriving soon.**

**Lots of love and thank you for reading.**

**Alicia**

**xxxx**


	2. Waiting

**2. Waiting**

"What?" Marcus spoke quietly his eyes wide in horror.

Klaus looked up and grinned that unnerving grin before speaking.

"Follow and you shall see." Niklaus stood and stalked past his siblings before exiting the room.

No one moved for a while until Claire rose with a determined face and strode towards her siblings not even stopping to see if they were following – she knew they would.

"Hansel, you must fetch Father Timothy, something has to be done." Claire spoke quietly as she followed, keeping her eye on Klaus who was at least 15 metres in front, striding purposefully down the stone corridor.

Her siblings accompanied her as she led the group towards where Niklaus' retreating figure could be seen. As they followed their brother they found themselves outside on the front steps of the large house and they halted, looking around them they saw the full moon hanging over their heads, and the forest around them was unnaturally still. No breeze stirred the leaves above their head and no animal cawed or howled around them, it was as if every living thing within the vicinity was listening in on the Dita's family crisis.

Without a word Hansel disappeared down the steps and out of the gate running as fast as his legs would carry him towards the town's church to search for the only person who may provide assistance in this matter.

Claire watched him go before she stepped forward to pursue her youngest brother's shadow, a strong hand shot out and gripped her upper arm, pulling her back. Ambrose looked down at her and shook his head. Looking behind him, he beckoned with his free hand and Marcus strode to his side. With one last look, Ambrose released Claire's arm and the twins set off to follow Klaus, disappearing into the forest without so much as speaking a word.

"Why did they do that?" Claire spoke aloud as she watched them open mouthed in anger and puzzlement.

"Niklaus is unstable in this present time; all of us bearing down on him may not help him in any way." Murdoch said from behind her.

"But that is it!" Claire exclaimed uncertainly. "Did you hear him? He is talking about murder! Who knows what he may be capable of in his current state? What if he harms someone, Ambrose or Marcus, they could be harmed because they went alone and we weren't there to help them!" Claire's eyebrows furrowed as she spoke and she began to gnaw on her fingernails nervously.

Elijah moved forward and ran his hand soothingly over her forehead and she instantly relaxed as she looked into her brother's eyes. He reached up with his other hand and encircled her wrist, pulling her hand from her mouth.

"Claire, be still. I am sure that our brothers are quite capable of handling themselves, and besides, Niklaus is our brother, he may not be in a very stable state but he knows that his family will never harm him, so he shall not harm his family. You always imagine the worst."

Despite his words of comfort and his careful teasing, Claire looked hesitantly out towards the tall trees and groaned in frustration. Elijah simply pulled her in and embraced her, his strong arms providing a barrier for her to hide behind as she buried her face in his chest and a warm hand fell onto her shoulder as Murdoch stood with his siblings and watched the forest for any sign of movement, the pressure of his hand on his sister's shoulder keeping her grounded as they waited.

Waiting; that was all they ever seemed to do.

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I am having a blast writing it and I am really eager to keep going so more updates should be on their way, but with school and everything I'm sorry if they are not very regular but I'll do my best.**

**I send my love to all of you,**

**Alicia**

**xxxx**


	3. One By One

**3. One by One**

No less than half an hour later, Claire was roused from where she was sleeping, in Elijah's embrace on the front steps of their home, by an earth shattering scream of agony. Murdoch, who had been standing and surveying the edge of the woods whilst his siblings slept, snapped his head up and by the time his sleeping siblings had pulled themselves to their feet he was already speeding towards the sound.

Claire stumbled to her feet and pulled Elijah up after her, they locked eyes whilst their hands remained entwined and simultaneously they began running after Murdoch.

Claire's speed was hindered by her many skirts but her fear outweighed that fact so she shed some layers as she ran, leaving her only in her corset and underskirt, Elijah pulling her along as they went and soon they were sprinting at an equal pace through the trees, brambles tearing at their skin as they ran in the direction of the guttural screams that pierced the silence of the night at regular intervals.

They kept their sights on Murdoch who was running up ahead of them and when he froze on the spot they froze metres behind him, tentatively walking towards him only to freeze at the sight in front of them.

Niklaus stood at the edge of a clearing with a manic grin on his face as he gazed upon the sight before him, the sight that turned Claire's stomach and made her want to throw up.

In the middle of the clearing stood the twins, their expressions were identical looks of dreamy wonder; and they were covered in blood.

Their hands were dripping the red liquid and their clean white shirts had dark flecks spattered across them. Marcus' blond hair was slicked back from his face by what looked like sweat whereas Ambrose's hair fell into his eyes, and at their feet lay Father Timothy, his mouth slack and his eyes glassed over, a tree branch protruding from his chest, his cold hands gripped around the branch as if he had been attempting to remove it whilst he died.

Claire couldn't take it any more and staggered backwards to grip a tree where she bent over as she felt bile filling her mouth. She collapsed on to her hands and knees retching until there was nothing left for her to cough up. Finally, she stood upon shaky legs using the tree to support her. She could feel tears streaming down her face and didn't realise that she was sobbing until she felt firm arms wrap her in a strong embrace. As if from a distance she heard Murdoch say comforting words in her ear until she realised that he too was shaking with sobs. So she cried into his shoulder as he buried his face into her mass of blond hair.

"What – What – Murdoch?" She rasped between sobs before she collapsed into his side, her body racked with more appalled sobs.

"I don't know. I – I cannot even –" Was all he managed to say before his emotions smothered his voice and he only managed to make choking noises before giving up and breathing heavily his brown hair falling over his eyes.

"What are we going to do Murdoch? They murdered Father Timothy; murdered!" She squeaked balling her fists into the front of his shirt.

"Niklaus what have you done?" Elijah hadn't moved since they had arrived, and now he spoke from only a metre away causing Claire and Murdoch to look up at him as he stood with his back to them.

Klaus tore his eyes from his creations to look at his brother who, until now, he hadn't even known was standing across the clearing, watching him with a horrified expression.

"I have been showing our dear brothers my new activity." His eyes were wide and he was grinning dreamily at Elijah who looked as if he were about to discard the contents of his stomach on the ground before him.

"You need help Niklaus." Elijah spoke calmly as he moved slowly towards the blue eyed murderer.

Niklaus laughed one harsh bark of laughter that made Claire flinch.

"I do not need help dear brother, I am a happy man. I have found my calling." His voice was so cold and devoid of emotion but Elijah kept moving towards him.

"You are a murderer!" Elijah shouted, all patience gone. "You killed an innocent man! How is that your calling? You are mad Niklaus!" He screamed.

Elijah's screaming seemed to have snapped something inside Ambrose's head because his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he fainted, landing on the ground with a thud. Marcus came back to reality and after looking at his blood soaked hands he backed away from the corpse in front of him before turning to run into the forest tripping and stumbling as he howled in anguish, tears streaking his blood spattered face.

"What have you done Niklaus?" Elijah whispered, "What have you done?"

**I know that this wasn't a very pleasant chapter but it is crucial to the story line. Oh and by the way I WILL tell you why the Twins murdered dear old Father Timothy in the next chapter.**

**Until next time.**

**Alicia**

**xxxx**


	4. Why?

**Hello it's me again! **

**This chapter will mainly focus on why the twins killed Father Timothy and the repercussions of that.**

**Enjoy and tell me what you think.**

**4. Why?**

"I have done nothing." He said. "They killed him of their own accord."

"No. They wouldn't!" Claire screamed stumbling to her feet and running towards Klaus only to be stopped and held back by Elijah as she thrashed around in his arms screaming in outrage and fury, tears poring down her face.

"You did this! This is your entire fault you stupid little boy!" She shrieked.

Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye Claire saw Hansel stumble into the clearing, a long vertical gash stretched from his hairline to the corner of his mouth and blood was spilling down his face, his lip was also split open and bruised.

"Oh my lord." Elijah spoke in a hushed whisper of horror and in his shock he loosened his grip on Claire who hastily ran towards Hansel, catching him just before his knees buckled and he fell. His breathing laboured and blood trickling out of the corner of his mouth his eyes shut as he lay unconscious in her arms.

"Hansel, can you hear me? Hansel?" Mercifully he stirred in Claire's arms but did not wake up. Feeling confusion, misery and exhaustion seep into her bones Claire let the tears spill over and sobbed, burying her face in his unruly crop of brown hair. Rocking him as sobs shook her entire body.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Forgive me. This is my fault – all my fault." She lamented.

"It is foolish to ask for forgiveness for something you did not do." Klaus spoke as he sneered at the pitiful sight before him.

Claire raised her eyes to stare at her youngest brother.

"You are not going to apologise at any time in the near future and it is my fault for sending him off alone with someone like _you_ set loose." Her voice was low and hoarse as she spat her words at him.

"I did not do this," He gestured to Hansel, "so please do not direct your wrath at me. I did not touch _dear Hansel; _his current state isthe work of Father Timothy whilst he was in his panicked state."

Claire blanched at that statement, eyes widening and her gaze moving to where Father Timothy lay unmoving next to her own brother who had dried blood coating his hands, and away again as she closed her eyes breathing deep.

_In, Out. In, Out. In, Out._

_Logic_; all that was needed was some logic.

"Elijah, take Ambrose to his bed then find Marcus, he needs someone with him now; he is probably disgusted with himself. Calm him and take him to the house when you find him. Make sure he sleeps, stay with them both until I tell you otherwise." Claire's voice was oddly calm and she spoke authoritatively.

Elijah said nothing but Claire heard footsteps behind her and she heard a soft exhale of breath as Ambrose was lifted of the ground. Then footsteps retreated and once again there was silence.

"Murdoch," Claire heard Murdoch rush towards her and he placed a shaking hand on her shoulder, providing a silent comfort, "take Hansel, be careful of his head, take him to the house and tend to his wounds, but remember Mother and Father must not see him; I am trusting you to ensure that they see nothing. You must not leave the house until I return."

Murdoch leaned down and as he placed his arms under Hansel's still form he spoke quietly.

"What are you going to do?" His voice cracked as he spoke and he looked deep into her eyes but was only met by a blank look.

"What I must do in order to protect my family."

Murdoch nodded and lifted Hansel up carefully before striding towards the house.

Claire sat motionless for God knows how long. Being so lost in her own thoughts she didn't hear Niklaus approaching until he leant down and spoke into her ear, his cold breath ghosting down her neck and making all of her muscles tense in fear.

"What are you thinking of Dear Sister?" He stroked the back of her neck with blood crusted fingers and she shuddered, felling bile rise in her throat again but she swallowed against it.

"I am thinking about where Father Timothy should be placed. I cannot imagine what would happen if anyone discovered that our family was involved in murder, they would kill us all." Her voice had reached a high squeak by the end of her sentence as she sat in the wet grass in nothing but her underclothes; she felt too exposed and crossed her arms over herself, hunching forward as her hair fell forward covering her face.

Klaus chuckled low and throaty before standing up and stepping back once.

"That is your decision. I have had enough excitement for one night." With that he turned to walk away but Claire pushed herself to her feet slipping as she used the wet ground to assist her, staring from the vicar's body to her brother who was strolling into the forest as if he hadn't a care in the world.

"Niklaus!" She called in desperation. "What do you mean? Niklaus you cannot leave me here! I cannot do this! Please –" Claire was back to sobbing as she stumbled after her brother who only laughed lewdly and continued walking, not paying any attention to her sister who had now collapsed against a tree, gripping it tightly as she looked at the body she had to remove from sight and silently wishing that she would wake up from this awful nightmare as she clenched her eyes shut.

"It's just a dream, only a dream, a horrible dream, it's just a dream, it has to be," Claire gasped between the sobs that had begun again, "It has to be."

As she opened her eyes she did not see her grand room but the bent body before her and as she moved to push some stray hair away from her tear stained face she saw that her hands were also covered in thick blood.

The ground was wet for a reason.


End file.
